ANOTHER FIND-OF-A-LIFETIME: RARE New Orleans Token, BIG SILVER & FOUR MORE silvers!
Hello All,
This will be a weekend that I can never forget. I dug something really good today--something that easily beats my earlier banner find from spring! UPDATE BELOW!
Here is how the day went down:
Early in the morning I got out in the muddy soupy nasty fields with Shanegalang and we decided to go and try to scout out a new site. Walked out in that messy soup and the first thing I dug was a silver half dollar! Now I've dug a couple of Walkers in the fields, and one Franklin (all farmer drops), and I've been lucky enough to dig a couple of Seated Halves too. But it turned out that this one was a Barber Half. I was really thrilled because the last Barber Half I dug was back in 1993!! This one is an 1895-O.
For all you Yankees, here is a picture of a Crawfish High-Rise.
We started exploiting a nice sized iron patch, and I walked way out of the iron just to be certain and turned back around. No sooner than I did and I got an 83 reading on the F75. It was a silver quarter!
Praying for a Seated but it was a Washington. 1942.
We kept hitting the field, digging a good many targets--just not many GOOD targets. I got a wheat. He got a handle from a silver spoon, then I dug the bowl which I gave to him. I got an 1888 Indian and some parasol clips. So we migrated to another site that would be much more dry due to elevated rows instead of muddy flat swamp. We'd worn ourselves out from four hours slogging through the mud! On the second site, we started digging some flat buttons right away. Then I managed to get a couple spur pieces (strap box, neck, side, and half of the piece where the rowel went). Feeling pleased, I noticed two eyeball finds in a row. The first was a green trade bead and the second was a sword hanger, both laying right on top of the ground.
When I rounded the next row I got a signal that could either be a copper pack rivet or a half dime. Opening up the hole, a tiny silver stared back at me! It was an 1842 Quarter Franc!! My buddy dug one of these earlier in the spring on a different site, and I was STOKED to get one for my collection!
I also dug a flat piece of nondescript silver. No clue what that's from, but it will go in the collection.
At that point, Shangalang decided to takes his XP Deus and head home. He was worn out, and I was too--but I just couldn't leave. Within an hour, I heard a beep and instinctively stuck my shovel in the ground. When I looked down, I realized that there was a half dime sitting right on top! 1857 Seated Half Dime! That was silver #4 for the day!
At that point, I decided that I would take breaks as needed and just hunt until dark. Quite a long day, when we were out there at first light!
Here is a photo of the finds up to that point in the hunt:
I got into an interesting area where there were some great signs of habitation, and I dug a large cent sized disc. It only read 60 on the F75 so I knew it wasn't a copper. Thinking it might be a token, I put it in my pouch to inspect at home.
I dug a thimble or two, a couple flat buttons and eyeballed some bone buttons and shards of nice china. Targets were really thin. Then I got a screamer signal which locked right in at 82 on the F75. I just knew it had to be a silver quarter. And--it was! Silver #5!! That put the silver total at $1.10 face value in old silver in one day!
At that point, the light started fading, and seeing as how I'd dug so many great finds--including the mystery of the brass token which I was curious to investigate, I headed home.
Well...when I got home, and started carefully cleaning the brass disc, immediately a date of 1834 came into view!!! Turns out the token is a Hard Times Token from New Orleans, advertising the store of J. Hall Walker & Walton, listed as Ruhlau HT-121!!!
Judging from the auction listings, this token is one of my best finds ever. Only four of these tokens have come to auction in the last 100 years. Here is a link to a Stacks auction heading where the finest known example of those four brought over $40,000.00.
Stack's : Louisiana. New Orleans. J. Hall Walker & Walton. 1834. Low-85, Rulau HT-121. (AN86415399)
Here is the auction listing from the "barely legible" example of the four--which still sold for over $8,000.00!!
Stack's : Louisiana. New Orleans. J. Hall Walker & Walton. 1834. Low-85, Rulau HT-121. (AN69131209)
UPDATE: I just heard back from John K that this find is worth in the $5,000.00 range!
So although I think that the word "Rare" is overly used and abused on treasure hunting forums, it appears that in this case the word applies! When I dug my second counterstamped Planter's Bank silver coin here, I thought that I'd dug two finds-of-a-lifetime, in one lifetime! Well, I hope that the luck/hard work/effort keeps going, because I am happy to roll with it!
Here are photos of all the silver coin finds:
And here are photos of the token I dug, as well as a non-dug example from online:
Best Wishes and HH,
Buck
Hello All,
This will be a weekend that I can never forget. I dug something really good today--something that easily beats my earlier banner find from spring! UPDATE BELOW!
Here is how the day went down:
Early in the morning I got out in the muddy soupy nasty fields with Shanegalang and we decided to go and try to scout out a new site. Walked out in that messy soup and the first thing I dug was a silver half dollar! Now I've dug a couple of Walkers in the fields, and one Franklin (all farmer drops), and I've been lucky enough to dig a couple of Seated Halves too. But it turned out that this one was a Barber Half. I was really thrilled because the last Barber Half I dug was back in 1993!! This one is an 1895-O.
For all you Yankees, here is a picture of a Crawfish High-Rise.
We started exploiting a nice sized iron patch, and I walked way out of the iron just to be certain and turned back around. No sooner than I did and I got an 83 reading on the F75. It was a silver quarter!
Praying for a Seated but it was a Washington. 1942.
We kept hitting the field, digging a good many targets--just not many GOOD targets. I got a wheat. He got a handle from a silver spoon, then I dug the bowl which I gave to him. I got an 1888 Indian and some parasol clips. So we migrated to another site that would be much more dry due to elevated rows instead of muddy flat swamp. We'd worn ourselves out from four hours slogging through the mud! On the second site, we started digging some flat buttons right away. Then I managed to get a couple spur pieces (strap box, neck, side, and half of the piece where the rowel went). Feeling pleased, I noticed two eyeball finds in a row. The first was a green trade bead and the second was a sword hanger, both laying right on top of the ground.
When I rounded the next row I got a signal that could either be a copper pack rivet or a half dime. Opening up the hole, a tiny silver stared back at me! It was an 1842 Quarter Franc!! My buddy dug one of these earlier in the spring on a different site, and I was STOKED to get one for my collection!
I also dug a flat piece of nondescript silver. No clue what that's from, but it will go in the collection.
At that point, Shangalang decided to takes his XP Deus and head home. He was worn out, and I was too--but I just couldn't leave. Within an hour, I heard a beep and instinctively stuck my shovel in the ground. When I looked down, I realized that there was a half dime sitting right on top! 1857 Seated Half Dime! That was silver #4 for the day!
At that point, I decided that I would take breaks as needed and just hunt until dark. Quite a long day, when we were out there at first light!
Here is a photo of the finds up to that point in the hunt:
I got into an interesting area where there were some great signs of habitation, and I dug a large cent sized disc. It only read 60 on the F75 so I knew it wasn't a copper. Thinking it might be a token, I put it in my pouch to inspect at home.
I dug a thimble or two, a couple flat buttons and eyeballed some bone buttons and shards of nice china. Targets were really thin. Then I got a screamer signal which locked right in at 82 on the F75. I just knew it had to be a silver quarter. And--it was! Silver #5!! That put the silver total at $1.10 face value in old silver in one day!
At that point, the light started fading, and seeing as how I'd dug so many great finds--including the mystery of the brass token which I was curious to investigate, I headed home.
Well...when I got home, and started carefully cleaning the brass disc, immediately a date of 1834 came into view!!! Turns out the token is a Hard Times Token from New Orleans, advertising the store of J. Hall Walker & Walton, listed as Ruhlau HT-121!!!
Judging from the auction listings, this token is one of my best finds ever. Only four of these tokens have come to auction in the last 100 years. Here is a link to a Stacks auction heading where the finest known example of those four brought over $40,000.00.
Stack's : Louisiana. New Orleans. J. Hall Walker & Walton. 1834. Low-85, Rulau HT-121. (AN86415399)
Here is the auction listing from the "barely legible" example of the four--which still sold for over $8,000.00!!
Stack's : Louisiana. New Orleans. J. Hall Walker & Walton. 1834. Low-85, Rulau HT-121. (AN69131209)
UPDATE: I just heard back from John K that this find is worth in the $5,000.00 range!
So although I think that the word "Rare" is overly used and abused on treasure hunting forums, it appears that in this case the word applies! When I dug my second counterstamped Planter's Bank silver coin here, I thought that I'd dug two finds-of-a-lifetime, in one lifetime! Well, I hope that the luck/hard work/effort keeps going, because I am happy to roll with it!
Here are photos of all the silver coin finds:
And here are photos of the token I dug, as well as a non-dug example from online:
Best Wishes and HH,
Buck
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